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Do You Shop At Trader Joe's?

Forget cantaloupe, beef, and peanut butter ... Now it's time to worry about certain frozen chicken dinners. U.S. and Canadian officials have noted that 4,865 pounds of Trader Joe's frozen butter chicken and rice were recalled for possible Listeriacontamination. The recall is already sounding similar to the widespread ground beef one from a couple months back, being that it also was imported from Canada.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Aliya's Foods Ltd. are
conducting the recall and will verify U.S. companies sent shipments of
the recalled products have been notified and have removed them from
sale. In the meantime, we should all smack our foreheads. Really, why does this continue to happen?

I know we're going to die no matter what, but it really galls me that it's as if we have to constantly question what -- if anything
-- is safe to eat. Especially when these kinds of foods -- considered
"ready-to-eat" -- are supposedly always subject to pathogen testing.

Well, at least they caught this product before too many were
distributed. As of this weekend, 19 cartons of product were on hold at
the distribution center, and 240 cartons have been distributed to Trader
Joe's retail stores. Trader Joe's has instructed the stores to pull the
recalled items off the shelf. The FDA said the recalled products may
have gone to 18 stores in New York, 17 in Massachusetts, 13 in Virginia,
11 in New Jersey, nine in Pennsylvania, eight in Maryland and North
Carolina, six in Connecticut, three in Florida, two each in New
Hampshire and South Carolina, one each in Delaware, the District of
Columbia, Maine and Rhode Island. Eesh!

So, if you shop at Joe's, you can be sure you're not purchasing the
recalled item by checking 12.5-ounce boxes of Trader Joe's Butter
Chicken with Basmati Rice for product code 2012-10-31 and lot code 30512.
In the meantime, it seems the best way to guard against the affected
products is keeping your eyes peeled for any updates on related recalls.
Because the way these things have been going lately, another one may
not be far behind.

First-I thought TJ's was just a western regional store. Good to know they are back east too. Second-the author asks why this keeps happening. Because we continue to raise animals and crops under conditions that are deplorable. Third-it sounds like they caught this one early, that's a bit of sunshine. Fourth-I LOVE shopping at TJ's. I have to drive 45 minutes to get to one, but when I go that way for anything else, I take an ice chest and stock up on organic butter, real cream, yogurt (my goats aren't giving enough milk to make my own), a few snacks and buy a boquet of flowers. I like that they are committed to no artificial ingredients and no GMO's. I will support them as much as I can for that reason. Oh, and I can get UNpasteurized OJ and tangerine juice there too. Fifth-I don't buy the premade dinners like that, so this recall would not affect me.

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